1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to marking or fletching an arrow and a method for attaching an arrow marking or fletching to an archery arrow shaft. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus and method for simultaneous registration and/or heat-shrinking of sleeves around multiple arrow shafts.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Many conventional archery arrows include fletching or archery vanes that are mounted on an arrow shaft to stabilize the flight of an archery arrow and to impart rotation on the arrow shaft during flight. The archery vanes are typically mounted directly to the arrow shaft at an aft end portion of the archery arrow using an adhesive material. Conventional fletching jigs are used to hold the arrow shaft and mount the archery vanes to the arrow shaft.
When the archery vanes are damaged, for example as a result of use, the damaged archery vanes must be replaced before the archery arrow can be used. The remaining portion of the damaged archery vane and/or the adhesive material used to mount the archery vane to the arrow shaft must be removed from the arrow shaft and the arrow shaft must be cleaned before attaching or mounting a replacement archery vane onto the arrow shaft. Further, a fletching jig is typically required to correctly position and attach the archery vanes onto the arrow shaft. Because the fletching process is time consuming and requires tools, such as a cumbersome fletching jig, hunters are not able to quickly and/or easily repair or fletch the damaged arrow in the field.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,074,143 discloses an arrow fletching system including a shrinkable sleeve and archery vanes mounted to the sleeve. The sleeve can be secured about an end portion of the arrow shaft by shrinking the sleeve. This system provides an efficient fletching method in the field, at home or in a retail store. There is an apparent need for a method and apparatus for use in applying shrinkable sleeves to more than one arrow shaft at a time.